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John Tovey
Admiral of the Fleet John Cronyn Tovey, 1st Baron Tovey, (7 March 1885 – 12 January 1971), sometimes known as Jack Tovey, was a Royal Navy officer. During the First World War he commanded the destroyer at the Battle of Jutland and then commanded the destroyer at the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight. During the Second World War he initially served as Second-in-Command of the Mediterranean Fleet in which role he commanded the Mediterranean Fleet's Light Forces (i.e. cruisers and destroyers). He then served as Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet and was responsible for orchestrating the pursuit and destruction of the . After that he became Commander-in-Chief, The Nore with responsibility for controlling the east coast convoys and organising minesweeping operations. Early life and career Tovey was born on 7 March 1885 at Borley Hill, Rochester, Kent, the youngest child (of eleven) of Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton Tovey, RE, and Maria Elizabeth Goodhue. He was educated at ...
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Admiral Of The Fleet (Royal Navy)
Admiral of the Fleet (ADMF) is a Five-star rank, five-star naval officer rank and the highest rank of the Royal Navy, formally established in 1688. The five-star NATO rank code is OF-10, equivalent to a Field Marshal (UK), field marshal in the British Army or a marshal of the Royal Air Force. Apart from honorary appointments, no new admirals of the fleet have been named since 1995, and no honorary appointments have been made since 2014. History The origins of the rank can be traced back to John de Beauchamp, 1st Baron Beauchamp de Warwick, who was appointed 'Admiral of the South, North and West, Admiral of the King's Southern, Northern and Western Fleets' on 18 July 1360. The appointment gave the command of the English navy to one person for the first time; this evolved into the post of admiral of the fleet. In the days of sailing ships the Admiral (Royal Navy), admiral distinctions then used by the Royal Navy included distinctions related to the fleet being divided into thre ...
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Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful command and leadership during active operations, typically in actual combat. Equal in Awards and decorations of the British Armed Forces, British precedence of military decorations to the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross and Royal Red Cross, since 1993 the DSO is eligible to all Military rank, ranks awarded specifically for "highly successful command and leadership during active operations". History Instituted on 6 September 1886 by Queen Victoria by Warrant (law), Royal Warrant published in ''The London Gazette'' on 9 November, the first DSOs awarded were dated 25 November 1886. The Order (distinction), order was established to recognise individual instances of meritorious or distinguished service in war. It is a military order, and wa ...
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HMS Prince Of Wales (1860)
HMS ''Prince of Wales'' was one of six 121-gun screw-propelled first-rate three-decker line-of-battle ships of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 25 January 1860. In 1869 she was renamed HMS ''Britannia'' and under that name served at Dartmouth as a cadet training ship until 1905. History The ''Prince of Wales'' was originally a 3,186 ton 120 gun design by John Edye and Isaac Watts for a modified ''Queen''-class sailing line-of-battle ship. She was laid down at Portsmouth on 10 June 1848, although she was not formally ordered until 29 June, and the design was approved on 28 July 1848. In 1849, the Royal Navy started ordering screw line-of-battle ships starting with the ''Agamemnon''. It is possible that construction of ''Prince of Wales'' was suspended, as screw line-of-battle ships laid down after her, were completed before her. ''Prince of Wales'' was reordered to complete as a 121 gun screw line-of-battle ship on 9 April 1856, conversion work started on 27 Octob ...
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Naval Cadet
Officer cadet is a rank held by military personnel during their training to become commissioned officers. In the United Kingdom, the rank is also used by personnel of University Service Units such as the University Officers' Training Corps. The term officer trainee is used interchangeably in some countries. Australia The Australian Defence Force follows the same usage as the British military system, using the rank of officer cadet (for the Australian Army (OCDT) and the Royal Australian Air Force (OFFCDT)), for personnel undergoing initial officer training. Unlike midshipmen in the Royal Australian Navy and officer cadets in the Royal Australian Air Force who hold a commission, officer cadets in the Australian Army do not yet hold a permanent commission, and are not saluted or referred to as "sir" or "ma'am". They do however hold probationary commissions. Officer cadets in the Australian Army are subordinate to warrant officers and officers and address them as "sir" or "ma ...
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Naval Review (magazine)
''The Naval Review'' was first published in February 1913. Admiral Sir William Henderson was the founding editor. In 1912 a group of seven Royal Navy and Royal Marines officers had formed a naval society "to promote the advancement and spreading within the service of knowledge relevant to the higher aspects of the naval profession". The seven founders were: *Captain Herbert Richmond *Commander Kenneth Dewar *Commander the Hon. Reginald Plunkett *Lieutenant Roger Bellairs *Lieutenant Thomas Fisher *Lieutenant Henry Thursfield *Captain Edward Harding, Royal Marine Artillery The history of the Royal Marines began on 28 October 1664 with the formation of the Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot soon becoming known as the Admiral's Regiment. During the War of the Spanish Succession the most historic achi ... The ''Naval Review'' is the journal of professional record of the Royal Navy. The Royal Navy and ''Naval Review'' - an independent journal whose charitable pu ...
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Geoffrey Oliver
Admiral Sir Geoffrey Nigel Oliver (22 January 1898 – 26 May 1980) was a Royal Navy officer during the Second World War. Early career The oldest son of a botanist, Professor Francis Wall Oliver, Geoffrey Oliver was educated at Durnford Preparatory School in Langton Matravers, and at Rugby School, and joined the Royal Navy in 1915 as a Special Entry Cadet at Keyham College. He was assigned as a midshipman to in 1916. In May 1917 he was reassigned to and in September promoted to sub-lieutenant. In October 1918 he was promoted again, to lieutenant following technical courses in which he performed brilliantly, obtaining First Class certificates in all five subjects, and receiving the Goodenough Medal and prize as the best gunnery student in his year. After a short period serving on , in 1920 he attended two terms at Queens' College, Cambridge to make up for the short education he received because of the war, followed by promotion courses into 1921. Following this he speciali ...
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Langton Matravers
Langton Matravers () is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Purbeck, in the county of Dorset in the south of England. It is situated about west of Swanage town centre and south-east of Corfe Castle. In the 2011 Census the civil parish had 381 households and a population of 853. History The name Langton stems from "long town", and is first attested in 1206, as ''Langeton''. Matravers stems from the name of John Mautravers who owned the land there in 1281, and ultimately originates from the French "mal traverse". The Old Malthouse was a preparatory school for boys and, more recently, girls which was founded in 1906, but closed in 2007. Two other preparatory schools Durnford School and Spyway used to be located in the village. Both Durnford and Spyway were closed earlier; Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond novels, was educated at Durnford. On 2 November 2022, the Ordnance Survey (OS) announced that the historic triple alignment of true, magnetic and grid north had mad ...
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Durnford School
Durnford School was an English preparatory school for boys which opened in 1894 on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset. The school occupied Durnford House, in the High Street of the village of Langton Matravers near Swanage, and was notoriously spartan and uncomfortable. Ben Macintyre described Durnford as "a traditionally brutal prep school hichepitomised the strange British faith in bad food, plenty of Latin and beatings from an early age". "Strip and swim" was the morning ritual for the boys – watched by headmaster Thomas Pellatt – into the sea from Dancing Ledge on the coast in 1898. Later, Pellatt had quarrymen blast out a pool in the rocks of Dancing Ledge, for his pupils to swim in. Pellatt, who co-wrote plays that appeared on the London stage under the pseudonym Wilfred T Coleby, published his reminiscences in 1936. The School closed at the onset of the Second World War and the Durnford boys were transferred to another prep school in the village, the Old Malthouse. In ...
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Corps Of Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is headed by the Chief Royal Engineer. The Corps Headquarters and the Royal School of Military Engineering are in Chatham in Kent, England. The corps is divided into several regiments, barracked at various places in the United Kingdom and around the world. History The Royal Engineers trace their origins back to the military engineers brought to England by William the Conqueror, specifically Bishop Gundulf of Rochester Cathedral, and claim over 900 years of unbroken service to the crown. Engineers have always served in the armies of the Crown; however, the origins of the modern corps, along with those of the Royal Artillery, lie in the Board of Ordnance established in the 15th century. In Woolwich in 1716, the Board formed the ...
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Lieutenant Colonel (United Kingdom)
Lieutenant colonel (Lt Col), is a rank in the British Army and Royal Marines which is also used in many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. The rank is superior to Major (United Kingdom), major, and subordinate to Colonel (United Kingdom), colonel. The comparable Royal Navy rank is Commander (Royal Navy), commander, and the comparable rank in the Royal Air Force and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth air forces is Wing commander (rank), wing commander. The rank insignia in the British Army and Royal Marines, as well as many Commonwealth countries, is a crown above a Order of the Bath, four-pointed "Bath" star, also colloquially referred to as a British Army officer rank insignia, "pip". The crown has varied in the past with different monarchs; the current one being the Tudor Crown. Most other Commonwealth countries use the same insignia, or with the state emblem replacing the crown. In the modern British Armed forces, the established commander of a regiment ...
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Mediterranean Fleet
The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between the United Kingdom and the majority of the British Empire in the Eastern Hemisphere. The first Commander-in-Chief for the Mediterranean Fleet was the appointment of General at Sea Robert Blake in September 1654 (styled as Commander of the Mediterranean Fleet). The Fleet was in existence until 1967. Pre-Second World War The Royal Navy gained a foothold in the Mediterranean Sea when Gibraltar was captured by the British in 1704 during the War of Spanish Succession, and formally allocated to Britain in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. Though the British had maintained a naval presence in the Mediterranean before, the capture of Gibraltar allowed the British to establish their first naval base there. The British also used Port Mahon, on the ...
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Second Battle Of Heligoland Bight
The Second Battle of Heligoland Bight, also the Action in the Helgoland Bight and the , was an inconclusive naval engagement fought between British and German squadrons on 17 November 1917 during the First World War. Background British minelaying The British used sea mining defensively to protect sea lanes and trade routes and offensively to impede the transit of German submarines and surface ships in the North Sea, the danger of which was illustrated on 17 October 1917 by the sortie of the German Brummer-class cruiser, ''Brummer''-class cruisers and (the action off Lerwick) against the action off Lerwick#The Scandinavian convoy, Scandinavian Convoy. (During 1917, six U-boats were sunk by British mines and in two years, the German minesweeping counter-effort suffered the loss about 28 destroyers and 70 minesweepers and other ships.) The Germans had been forced into minesweeping up to into the Heligoland Bight and in the southern Baltic Sea, covered by light cruisers and d ...
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